Clinical Laboratory
A clinical laboratory is a laboratory where tests are done on clinical specimens in order to get information about the health of a patient as pertaining to the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of disease.
Clinical laboratories are at the forefront of the personalized medicine trend. However, they are also targets for cost-cutting measures by payers, and increased regulation by CMS and FDA, making the industry a challenging one in which to succeed.
Laboratory medicine is generally divided into two sections, each of which being subdivided into multiple units. These two sections are:
- Anatomic pathology: Units included here are histopathology, cytopathology, and electron microscopy. Other disciplines pertaining to this section include anatomy, physiology, histology, pathology, and pathophysiology.
- Clinical pathology, which includes:
- Clinical Microbiology: This encompasses five different sciences. These include bacteriology, virology, parasitology, immunology, and mycology.
- Clinical Chemistry: Units under this section include instrumental analysis of blood components, enzymology, toxicology and endocrinology.
- Hematology: This section consists of automated and manual analysis of blood cells.
- Genetics is also studied along with a subspecialty known as cytogenetics.
- Reproductive biology: Semen analysis, Sperm bank and assisted reproductive technology.
Credibility of medical laboratories is paramount to the health and safety of the patients relying on the testing services provided by these labs. The international standard in use today for the accreditation of medical laboratories is ISO 15189. Under their respective approaches to laboratory licensure and accreditation, many countries have legal requirements that medical laboratories must be accredited to ISO 15189. This is not true in the United States.
In the United States, there are federal and state laws that address the licensure and accreditation of medical laboratories. Accreditation is done by the Joint Commission, College of American Pathologists, AAB (American Association of Bioanalysts), and other state and federal agencies. CLIA 88, the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments, also dictate testing and personnel.
In addition, many clinical laboratories have adopted quality management programs such as Six Sigma and Lean quality to improve clinical quality, reduce turnaround time, cut costs, and boost productivity. Lean and Six Sigma are both process improvement methodologies. At a very basic level, Lean is about speed and efficiency, while Six Sigma is about precision and accuracy, leading to data-driven decisions. Lean and Six Sigma methods are finding numerous applications in anatomic pathology laboratories and pathology group practices.
Academic, Commercial Collaboration for Testing
CEO SUMMARY: In several important ways, this collaboration involving an academic clinical laboratory and a commercial company has paid big dividends, not just for the two partners, but also the parent university that oversaw the project. The two partners developed a SARS-CoV-2 test, t…
Variant Sequencing of SARS-CoV-2 Creates Opportunities for Labs
CEO SUMMARY: Variants of the COVID-19 virus are appearing across the world. Recent data show the same variants will infect people in several different countries. Here in the United States, interest is growing in having clinical laboratories sequence specimens from patients who test pos…
Understanding Differences Between 2 CLIA Accreditors
MAJOR CHANGES ARE HAPPENING IN THE COMPETITIVE MARKET for CLIA accreditation of hospital laboratories. Some health systems representing hundreds of hospitals have shifted from using the College of American Pathologists (CAP) to using The Joint Commission (TJC) to meet the accreditation …
One Genetic Test CPT Code Earns ‘Fraudomatic’ Title
CEO SUMMARY: Several genetic testing companies have noticed that some of the nation’s Medicare Administrative Contractors (MAC) pay about $2,000 for test claims billed with CPT code 81408. From 2018 through and 2019, the number of 81408 claims rose dramatically at just two of thes…
Memphis Path Lab Pivots to COVID, Pooled Testing
CEO SUMMARY: When routine testing volume declined sharply last winter and spring, one of the nation’s largest anatomic pathology groups added testing for COVID-19 and boosted revenue significantly. Since then, the laboratory has become the first in the nation to gain an Emergency …
NorDx Lab Started to Prepare for COVID-19 Testing in 2019
CEO SUMMARY: In a remarkable example of prescience, informed by decades-long experience in clinical lab testing and past epidemics, the president of NorDx Laboratories in Maine saw the December news accounts of a widespread outbreak of a new respiratory disease in China. He warned h…
Pooled COVID Testing a Success for New York Hospital Lab
This is an excerpt of a 1,552-word article in the November 16, 2020 issue of THE DARK REPORT (TDR). The full article is available to members of The Dark Intelligence Group. CEO SUMMARY: Pooled COVID testing helps the clinical lab staff at the hospital in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., do …
California Builds Its Own COVID Lab: $25 Million or $1.7 Billion?
CEO SUMMARY: California dropped a bomb on the state’s existing network of hospital labs and independent clinical labs when, on Oct. 30, it announced it had built and opened a new laboratory facility in Valencia designed to perform 150,000 COVID-19 tests per day. Now, existing labs…
NY Hospital Lab Succeeds with Pooled COVID-19 Testing
CEO SUMMARY: Pooled testing helps the clinical lab staff at the hospital in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., do more COVID-19 tests when supplies might otherwise run short. Lab managers estimate this method has saved 5,000 test cartridges since May. Pooled testing also helps the physician st…
Palmetto GBA Tells Consultant to Take Down Test Price Data
CEO SUMMARY: Lawyers for Medicare contractor Palmetto GBA sent a cease and desist letter in September to a respected lab consultant, telling him to delete from his health policy blog a document containing Medicare genetic test price and coding data. In the letter, Quinn was directed…
CURRENT ISSUE
Volume XXVIII, Number 2 – February 8, 2021
VARIANT SEQUENCING FOR COVID-19 is the next big opportunity for clinical labs and pathology groups. It is currently being undertaken by large labs and academic medical centers, but local labs could be next. Also, The Dark Report reports on a highly successful collaboration on a COVID test between a university and a commercial company.
See the full table of contentsHow Much Laboratory Business Intelligence Have You Missed?
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